U.S. Inmates Going on <br />Strike to 'End Prison Slavery' American prisoners are planning to go on strike <br />until Sep. 9, which is the anniversary of the <br />1971 Attica Prison uprising in New York. The strike targets an <br />"end to prison slavery," <br />as well as a number of <br />other prison reforms. Inmates across at least 17 states plan to <br />participate for 19 days. The incarcerated will <br />refuse to work and some with also refuse to eat. The goal is to draw attention to poor <br />conditions and "exploitative labor <br />practices" within the prison system. Prison rights advocacy group Jailhouse <br />Lawyers Speak said that the protest is being <br />organized in response to the deadly riots at the <br />Lee Correctional Institute in South Carolina in April. Jailhouse Lawyers Speak, via 'Newsweek' Recently, it also came to light that <br />inmates from the California Department <br />of Corrections and Rehabilitation were risking their lives while fighting the California wildfires for $3 a day, as opposed to the $75,000 plus benefits a firefighter averages per year. This protest could end up <br />being the largest industrial <br />action taken by inmates in <br />the history of the U.S.
